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In "Someone Like You", Roald Dahl's first collection of his world famous dark and sinister adult stories, a wife serves a dish that baffles the police; a harmless bet suddenly becomes anything but; a curious machine reveals a horrifying truth about p lants; and, a man lies awake waiting to be bitten by the venomous snake asleep on his stomach. Through vendettas and desperate quests, bitter memories and sordid fantasies, Roald Dahl's stories portray the strange and unexpected, sending a shiver dow n the spine. Stories include: "Taste", "Lamb to the Slaughter", "Man from the South", "The Soldier", "My Lady Love", "My Dove", "Dip in the Pool", "Galloping Foxley", "Skin", "Poison", "The Wish", "Neck", "The Sound Machine", "Nunc Dimittis", "The Gr eat Automatic Grammatizator", and "Claud's Dog".

The sweet scents of rural life infuse this collection of Roald Dahl's country stories, but there is always something unexpected lurking in the undergrowth ...Whether it is taking a troublesome cow to be mated with a prime bull; dealing with a rat-inf ested hayrick; learning the ways and means of maggot farming; or describing the fine art of poaching pheasants using nothing but raisins and sleeping pills, Roald Dahl brings his stories of everyday country folk and their strange passions wonderfully to life. Lacing each tale with dollops of humour and adding a sprinkling of the sinister, Dahl ensures that this collection is brimful of the sweet mysteries of life.

These sumptuous new hardback editions mark the 70th anniversary of Fitzgerald's death. Increasingly disillusioned by the rejection slips that studded the walls of his room and his on/off engagement to Zelda Sayre, Fitzgerald began his third revision of the novel that was to becomeThis Side of Paradise. The story of a young man's painful sexual and intellectual awakening that echoes Fitzgerald's own career, it is also a portrait of the lost generation that followed straight on from the First World War, 'grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken' and wanting money and success more than anything else.

As the citizens of an unnamed Caribbean nation creep through the dusty corridors of the presidential palace in search of their tyrannical leader, they cannot comprehend that the frail and withered man laying dead on the floor can be the self-styled General of the Universe. Their egocentric, maniacally violent leader, known for serving up traitors to dinner guests and drowning young children at sea, can surely not die the humiliating death of a mere mortal? Tracing the demands of a man whose egocentric excesses mask the loneliness of isolation and whose lies have become so ingrained that they are indistinguishable from truth, Marquez has created a fantastical portrait of despotism that rings with an air of reality.

'As ambitious as it is remarkable. Balances on seesaws of innocence and violence, sanity and lunacy, hilarity and horror' The Times _____________________________ 'We will all melt like ice-cream in the sun!' British soldier, East Africa, 1914 On the Western Front millions are being slaughtered. But in East Africa a ridiculous and utterly ignored campaign is being waged - one that continues after the Armistice because no one bothers to tell the participants to stop. As the conflict sweeps up Africans and colonials, so those left at home and those fighting abroad find themselves unable to escape the tide of history bearing down on them. _____________________________ 'A towering achievement' John Carey 'Compulsively readable' Blake Morrison, Observer 'Funny, assured, a seriocomic romp. A study of people caught in the side pockets of calamity that dramatizes their plights with humour, detail and grit' Harper's

'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' sees a baby born in 1860 begin life as an old man and then age backwards. F. Scott Fitzgerald hinted at this kind of inversion when he called his era 'a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken'. Perhaps nowhere in American fiction has this 'Lost Generation' been more vividly preserved than in Fitzgerald's short fiction. Spanning the early twentieth-century American landscape, this collection captures, with Fitzgerald's signature blend of enchantment and disillusionment, America during the Jazz Age.

The 10th anniversary edition of the classic guide to handling life's toughest conversations. What is a difficult conversation? Asking for a pay rise, saying 'no' to your boss or spouse, confronting a friend, apologizing. We all have conversations that we dread and find unpleasant. But can we develop the skills to make such situations less stressful and more productive? Based on fifteen years of research and consultations with thousands of people, Difficult Conversations pinpoints what works. It teaches us to work through them by understanding that we're not engaging in one dialogue but three: - The "what happened" conversation (what do we believe was said and done) - The "feelings" conversation (the emotional impact on everyone involved) - The "identity" conversation (what does this mean for everyone's opinion of themselves) Use this ground-breaking, step-by-step book to turn your difficult conversations into positive, problem-solving experiences.

New cover for the paperback of "The Naked Chef". Britain's most exciting young chef, Jamie Oliver combines bold flavours and fresh ingredients within simple recipes. He is at the cutting edge of modern life and modern British cooking. "The Naked Chef " has something for everyone - from those who want great food but want to keep it simple, to those who work for a living and don't have time to spend all evening cooking. It is about giving people confidence and getting them to feel at ease in the ki tchen, even if they have never tried cooking before!

These sumptuous new hardback editions mark the 70th anniversary of Fitzgerald's death. Anthony and Gloria are the essence of Jazz Age glamour. A brilliant and magnetic couple, they fling themselves at life with an energy that is thrilling. New York is a playground where they dance and drink for days on end. Their marriage is a passionate theatrical performance; they are young, rich, alive and lovely and they intend to inherit the earth. But as money becomes tight, their marriage becomes impossible. And with their inheritance still distant, Anthony and Gloria must grow up and face reality; they may be beautiful but they are also damned.

Written during Jane Austen's race against failing health, "Persuasion" tells the story of Anne Elliot, a woman who - at twenty-seven - is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years ago, she was persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. When Anne and Frederick meet again, he has acquired both, but still feels the sting of her rejection. A brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, Austen's last completed novel is also a movingly told love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities.

When it comes to genes life's a lottery . . . As Abi would the first to know. She has spent her life in the shadow of her stunningly beautiful, glamorous older sister Cleo. Headhunted as model when she was sixteen, Cleo has been all but lost to Abi for the last twenty years, with only a fleeting visit or brief email to connect them. So when Abi is invited to spend the summer in Cleo's large London home with her sister's perfect family, she can't bring herself to say no. Despite serious m isgivings. Maybe Cleo is finally as keen as Abi to regain the closeness they shared in their youth? But Abi is in for a shock. Soon she is left caring for her two young, bored and very spoilt nieces and handsome, unhappy brother-in-law - while Cl eo plainly has other things on her mind. As Abi moves into her sister's life, a cuckoo in the nest, she wrestles with uncomfortable feelings. Could having beauty, wealth and fame lead to more unhappiness than not having them? Who in the family re ally is the ugly sister?

The New World, 1545...Vanquished by the Spanish Empire, little remains of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. From the ashes of their cities, a unified legend emerges: the Christians who conquered them possessed a mysterious object, an artifact so pow erful - so deadly - that it was known throughout the Americas as 'the death relic.'

Collected here for the first time in a deluxe paperback volume are six of John Steinbeck's most widely read and beloved novels. From the tale of commitment, loneliness and hope in Of Mice and Men, to the tough yet charming portrait of people on the margins of society in Cannery Row, to The Pearl's examination of the fallacy of the American dream, Steinbeck stories of realism, that were imbued with energy and resilience.

The New World, 1545...Vanquished by the Spanish Empire, little remains of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. From the ashes of their cities, a unified legend emerges: the Christians who conquered them possessed a mysterious object, an artifact so powerful - so deadly - that it was known throughout the Americas as "the death relic." Yucatan Peninsula, present day...When Maria Pelati's research team disappears in Mexico, Jonathon Payne and David Jones embark on a perilous mission to find the missing archaeologists. The duo quickly finds a link between the group's work and its recent disappearance. Following the clues left behind, the pair try to solve one of the darkest mysteries of the new world, but their quest for the relic might cost them their lives.

Whether visiting the King of the Lozis at a bend in the Zambezi river or crossing the United States in a railway car of unsurpassable luxury, relating his experiments with biblical dieting, or detailing the illneses and diseases suffered in half a lifetime of travel, Paul Theroux, the fresh-air fiend himself, is always an entertaining and honest guide. Full of startling encounters and memorable scenes, fascinating and sometimes bizarre locations, and enlightening musings on themes as various as sexual attraction and the point of travel writing itself, this extensive collection of his shorter pieces is a rich and remarkable book from a superb writer.